Wee Waa is a town with a population of 1,689 people (2006 census) located on the north-western slopes of the New England

New England (Australia)

New England or New England North West is the name given to a generally undefined region about 60 kilometres inland, that includes the Northern Tablelands and the North West Slopes regions in the north of the state of New South Wales, Australia.-History:The region has been occupied by Indigenous...

 region in New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. The town is within Narrabri Shire local government area and is on the Namoi River

Namoi River

The Namoi River is a major tributary of the Darling River in inland New South Wales, Australia.- Course :The headwaters of the Namoi, including the Macdonald River, the Peel River, the Cockburn River and the Manilla River, rise on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range on the Northern...

. Wee Waa is 41 m north-west of Narrabri and 571  km northwest of Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

 on the Kamilaroi Highway

Kamilaroi Highway

Kamilaroi Highway is a state highway in New South Wales. It has been given the national route number 37. Its status as a highway is fairly new....

. It is the oldest established town in the area and is the birthplace of the commercial cotton

Cotton

Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....

 industry in Australia. It claims the title "Cotton Capital of Australia".

To protect it from floods, the entire town is protected by a levee bank.

Education

The town has three primary schools (Wee Waa Public School and two private primary schools (Namoi Valley Christian School) and one high school (Wee Waa High School), that cater for children living up to 100km away. In addition, there are several preschools to cater for children prior to school age.

Media

The Wee Waa News is published weekly, by the nearby Narrabri Courier. National Christian Narrowcaster, Vision FM

Vision FM

Vision Radio Network is a Christian media ministry of United Christian Broadcasters Australia Ltd to the people of Australia. UCB Australia's motto is "Connecting Faith to Life" and the radio network is a means to that end. It aims to make Christian Radio available for every Australian...

 broadcasts on 87.6FM in Wee Waa. The Wee Waa Ink is published monthly and available on the Wee Waa Website www.weewaa.com and in various shops in the main street for free. This Newsletter has been printed over 100 times and been running for 12 years.

Notable events

It was in Wee Waa police station that Eddie Murray was killed in 1981, one of the Aboriginal deaths in custody

Aboriginal deaths in custody

Aboriginal deaths in custody became a major issue because of a widespread perception that a disproportionate number of Indigenous Australians were dying in jail after being arrested by police...

 that prompted a Royal Commission

Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody

The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody studied and reported on the high level of deaths of Aboriginal people whilst in custody after being arrested or convicted of committing crimes. This included suicide, natural causes, medical conditions and injuries caused by police...

 to be set up to investigate them. It was also the first town to use DNA testing to find a rapist.

Sport

The town has a multi-function Sports Complex, which acts as a de facto Community centre.

The main sport around Wee Waa is Rugby League

Rugby league

Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...

, the name of the town's club is The Wee Waa Panthers. This is also Jamie Lyon

Jamie Lyon

Jamie Lyon is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who currently captains for the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles of the National Rugby League...

's home club in which he played for up until his international career. Lyons later left his professional career with the Parramatta Eels

Parramatta Eels

The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, with their First Grade side playing their first season in the New South Wales Rugby Football League...

 to return for a season with the Wee Waa Panther's. The 1st-grade team went on to win that year against Moree

Morée

Morée is a commune in the Loir-et-Cher department of central France.-See also:*Communes of the Loir-et-Cher department...

, 55 to 12.

External links

WeeWaa.com